Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
self , his character as a musical critic , a connoisseur , and an exquisite , it is decidedly readable , instructive , and amusing ; but a more curious melange , olla poclrida , or by whatever name a dainty mixture of all that is incongruous and unmixable is called , was never presented to the British public . Mozart and tables-d'hote , Gluck and railway stations , beer and Beethoven , Mendelssohn and Chorley , in shawl-pattern dressing gowns and
slip pers , are all served up together in one dish , and in a style of cooking enough to take aAvay the appetite of the greatest general reader of the present day . Nevertheless , and curious enough , in spite of all this evidence of bad weak taste , we are bound to say that no work with AA'hich we are acquainted gives so admirable or truthful an account of the comparative merits and excellencies of the great German composers , as that before us . Mr . Chorley is a musician in heart , and if somewhat fastidious , is
sincere in his admiration , and generous even in his censure , and for this reason we can willingly , Avithout much sacrifice , forgive him his folly , in the hope when next he travels abroad , with the view of affording the public another treat , he will leave his cap and bells behind him , and not don them again until his manuscript is safe in the hands of the printer . From music to poetry is easy travelling ; but the ease and pleasure of the trip is sadly marred when the first work on our list recalls the memory
of one whose loss we still mourn as recent and unsupplied . But a few months before Talfourd ' s sudden and regretted death , " The Castilian , " * an historical tragedy , was printed for private circulation , and it is now published to satisfy the requirements of a public who gratefully seize on ever so slight a memorial of so kindly and gentle a genius . The story of the play is founded on an imagined episode in Spanish history . It is a tale of virtue and heroism , of true patriotism and of domestic happiness ,
of self-sacrifice , and undying love . To describe , however , its various merits , or eA en to unravel the mystery of the plot , would require more space than Ave can devote . We content ourselves , therefore , in recommending its perusal to our readers , promising them a rich treat , and a full harvest of bright thoughts and loving images . From Mr . Arnold ' s pen . f we have a collection of poems full of promise , and the same may be said of those which have just flown from the quill of Mr . Frederick Tennyson , J the younger brother of the Laureate . Our contemporary , the Examiner , thus speaks of these two volumes : —
" Mr . Arnold warns all men that he sits at the feet of iEsch ylus , that he cares for his topic much , and less for his diction . Mr . Frederick Tennyson , who would have all parts faithful to nature , cares for diction most , and will take for his topic anything or almost nothing , careless whether his nimble and very graceful fancy dances round a hale old oak , or the slim ghost of a maypole . Mr . Arnold ' s fancy is not suffered to go out and dance . Every poem must have its great topic or story , which is its fact , and the imagination must then stick to its fact closely ; for what poetry wants is facts , meaning of course , not Mr . Gradgrind ' s facts , but such good old facts as Iphigenia , CEdipus , Prometheus , aud so forth .
" To characterize the poetry of Mr . Frederick Tennyson , abiding by the fact that it is really in such case poetry of which we speak , we have only to reverse what has been said of Mr . Arnold ' s poems . What Mr . Arnold has , Mr . Tennyson wants : power to conceive a subject clearly , and abide by it steadily in the working
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
self , his character as a musical critic , a connoisseur , and an exquisite , it is decidedly readable , instructive , and amusing ; but a more curious melange , olla poclrida , or by whatever name a dainty mixture of all that is incongruous and unmixable is called , was never presented to the British public . Mozart and tables-d'hote , Gluck and railway stations , beer and Beethoven , Mendelssohn and Chorley , in shawl-pattern dressing gowns and
slip pers , are all served up together in one dish , and in a style of cooking enough to take aAvay the appetite of the greatest general reader of the present day . Nevertheless , and curious enough , in spite of all this evidence of bad weak taste , we are bound to say that no work with AA'hich we are acquainted gives so admirable or truthful an account of the comparative merits and excellencies of the great German composers , as that before us . Mr . Chorley is a musician in heart , and if somewhat fastidious , is
sincere in his admiration , and generous even in his censure , and for this reason we can willingly , Avithout much sacrifice , forgive him his folly , in the hope when next he travels abroad , with the view of affording the public another treat , he will leave his cap and bells behind him , and not don them again until his manuscript is safe in the hands of the printer . From music to poetry is easy travelling ; but the ease and pleasure of the trip is sadly marred when the first work on our list recalls the memory
of one whose loss we still mourn as recent and unsupplied . But a few months before Talfourd ' s sudden and regretted death , " The Castilian , " * an historical tragedy , was printed for private circulation , and it is now published to satisfy the requirements of a public who gratefully seize on ever so slight a memorial of so kindly and gentle a genius . The story of the play is founded on an imagined episode in Spanish history . It is a tale of virtue and heroism , of true patriotism and of domestic happiness ,
of self-sacrifice , and undying love . To describe , however , its various merits , or eA en to unravel the mystery of the plot , would require more space than Ave can devote . We content ourselves , therefore , in recommending its perusal to our readers , promising them a rich treat , and a full harvest of bright thoughts and loving images . From Mr . Arnold ' s pen . f we have a collection of poems full of promise , and the same may be said of those which have just flown from the quill of Mr . Frederick Tennyson , J the younger brother of the Laureate . Our contemporary , the Examiner , thus speaks of these two volumes : —
" Mr . Arnold warns all men that he sits at the feet of iEsch ylus , that he cares for his topic much , and less for his diction . Mr . Frederick Tennyson , who would have all parts faithful to nature , cares for diction most , and will take for his topic anything or almost nothing , careless whether his nimble and very graceful fancy dances round a hale old oak , or the slim ghost of a maypole . Mr . Arnold ' s fancy is not suffered to go out and dance . Every poem must have its great topic or story , which is its fact , and the imagination must then stick to its fact closely ; for what poetry wants is facts , meaning of course , not Mr . Gradgrind ' s facts , but such good old facts as Iphigenia , CEdipus , Prometheus , aud so forth .
" To characterize the poetry of Mr . Frederick Tennyson , abiding by the fact that it is really in such case poetry of which we speak , we have only to reverse what has been said of Mr . Arnold ' s poems . What Mr . Arnold has , Mr . Tennyson wants : power to conceive a subject clearly , and abide by it steadily in the working